Unrepentant pastor who performed gay wedding suspended

1of2The Rev. Frank Schaefer and wife, Bridgett Schaefer, walk to lunch during a break in his penalty hearing at a United Methodist retreat in Spring City, Pa.Photo: Chris Knight / Associated Press

2of2Rich Kirk from Calvary United Methodist Church joins other supporters of Schaefer on Monday.Photo: Tom Gralish / Philadelphia Inquirer

SPRING CITY, Pa. — A United Methodist minister who was convicted under church law of officiating at his son's same-sex wedding ceremony was suspended 30 days Tuesday and told he'll lose his credentials if he violates any of the church's rules in that time.

The same jury of fellow pastors that convicted the Rev. Frank Schaefer on Monday of breaking his vows told him he must surrender his credentials if he can't reconcile his new calling to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community with the laws from the church's Book of Discipline.

Before the punishment ruling, Schaefer, who was convicted for officiating at his son's 2007 wedding ceremony in Massachusetts, told the jury Tuesday that he's unrepentant and refused to promise he wouldn't perform more gay unions.

Rather than beg for mercy Tuesday in the trial that has rekindled debate over church policies on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the pastor upped the stakes.

He told jurors that he has been called by God to be an advocate for the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people.

The church “needs to stop judging people based on their sexual orientation,” he said. “We have to stop the hate speech. We have to stop treating them as second-class Christians.”

Schaefer donned a rainbow-colored stole on the witness stand and told jurors it symbolized his commitment to the cause.

“I will never be silent again,” he said as some of his supporters wept in the gallery. “This is what I have to do.”

Jon Boger, who filed the initial complaint against Schaefer, was outraged by the pastor's recalcitrance. The career naval officer grew up in Zion United Methodist Church of Iona, the church Schaefer has led for 11 years.

“Frank Schaefer sat here and openly rebuked the United Methodist Church, its policies, standards and doctrines,” Bolger said when called as a rebuttal witness. “He should no longer be in service as a minister of the United Methodist Church, not at Iona, not anywhere else.”

The nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination accepts gay and lesbian members, but it rejects the practice of homosexuality as “incompatible with Christian teaching.”